Poking fun at Atlanta is sort of like someone poking fun at your mother. Sure, you can do it, but damn it, no one else better say anything wrong. However, in a city with high foreclosure rates and mortgage fraud, extreme debt, crumbling sewers, traffic snarls and unaccredited school districts, shouldn’t we laugh a little at it (if only to keep from crying)? A troupe of talented improvisational sketch comedians from Chicago’s famous Second City Theatre brings that much needed laugh with The Second City: Too Busy To Hate…Too Hard To Commute.

It’s kind of difficult to review a show like this because while the immensely talented cast has plenty of Atlanta topics to pull from and their own Second City material, a large part of the show’s success falls on the audience. The usual Alliance audience isn’t used to this kind of format; for example, at the show I attended tonight, some drunk woman shriek-laughed in the front row after being singled out by the cast. On another skit, what appeared to be a Civil War-themed dialogue quickly ran amok with audience suggestions of “syphillis” and “my best friend has batteries”. Less talented crews would have easily fumbled on these drunken suggestions, but hey, this is Second City.

The Hertz’s usual tiered seating is broken up with just simple bar tables, transforming the theatre into more of a hole-in-the-wall concert saloon. Tables and chairs were also placed close to the stage (fodder for the cast, no doubt), and a live keyboardist tickles the ivories and adds a whimsically Vaudevillian element to the overall setting. On stage, there’s six chairs and the cast. And right off the bat, they rip into the city’s underlying issues of race, diversity, class, politics, stereotypes, transportation, homosexuality, religion…you name it, they touch on it in some way. And that touching is sometimes on a raw nerve (as evidenced by people who complained at the intermission and others who walked out after sketches). Act I was hit (Neal Boortz, traffic, Braves games) or miss (improv church service, redneck store), and left me initially with the feeling that a regular audience member would have to be quasi-“in the know” about Atlanta to get most of the subtler jabs (or perhaps, just be sober). Act II quickly eliminated that feeling, turning up the offensive, punchy satire Second City is known for, and centering their sites on famed Atlanta institutions and ideas, like the Piedmont Driving Club and the failed Brand Atlanta campaign. Granted, this is based off of the first night of a show in previews, so the cast will have plenty of time to tune and tweak the show to achieve maximum laughs and minimal walkouts.

Actually, fuck that – let ‘em walk out if they can’t take a joke.

As a matter of fact, make it a joke about their mother.

Grade: B+

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The Second City: Too Busy To Hate…Too Hard To Commute is currently in previews, and will run at the Hertz Stage of the Alliance Theatre from September 28 - October 26. For tickets, call 404-733-5000 or purchase them online through the Alliance Theatre website.